The Mid-Week brief is an unfettered look at what the press is saying about passenger rail — if you see something you dislike, or know to be inaccurate, don't hesitate to reach out to those responsible for the article by using the comment board of a linked website, or emailing the publication directly.

The Salt Lake Tribune While most college interns will spend the summer slaving away in offices, Elena Studier talked her way into something more dramatic: traveling 10,000 miles in 38 days in 20 major cities in 15 states.
The Ithaca, New York, native convinced her bosses at the National Association of Rail Passengers that sending her on the trip would help promote how easy it can be to travel the county by Amtrak, local transit and bicycle. While many tourists travel Europe and Asia by train, it has yet to catch on in America — and Studier hopes to help change that.READ MORE

Modesto BeeAmtrak's boss rode his official train into Modesto, California, to talk about upgrading its San Joaquin Corridor.
Joe Boardman, president and chief executive officer since 2008, said that he sees great potential for the service. Amtrak has four round trips a day between Bakersfield and Oakland and two that take in Sacramento, but he said they are not convenient to many travelers.
"The more frequency that you have, the more comfortable people are with using that service," Boardman said.READ MORE

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East OregonianPassengers and freight have always competed for precedence on rail lines. For 40 years, passenger trains have come first. Now that is being challenged. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board will be deciding whether to accept the argument of freight railroads, which argue that Amtrak's tacit priority on rail lines should be changed.
The Wall Street Journal's story on this case describes the conflicting worlds. Amtrak ridership is up markedly. With fossil fuels in decline, freight lines are struggling and need an advantage.READ MORE

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Augusta Free PressAmtrak is in legal trouble. The rail service provider has long enjoyed an anomalous legal status as a for-profit corporation created by the U.S. government. But in 2008, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act, or PRIIA, heightened that anomaly by giving Amtrak a say in crafting and imposing the regulations that the entire U.S. rail industry has to follow. And that, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late last month, is unconstitutional.READ MORE

Miami TodayThe county has hit a wall in talks with rail company CSX Corp. about buying its freight tracks for an 11-mile east-west commuter line, says Commissioner Esteban Bovo Jr., so it's not a viable way to relieve traffic congestion.
At one time there seemed every reason to look into CSX's underused freight lines as an alternative to Metrorail-driven mass transit given the prohibitive costs, Mr. Bovo said during a Sunshine meeting.READ MORE

WTAJ-TVLeaders from Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, are proposing more federal dollars for what they say is the only form of public transportation in the area.
The Amtrak passenger rail in Huntingdon only has one stop: a train going eastbound and another westbound.
With an increase in ridership, advocates want more federal dollars to add three total stops. READ MORE

NaharnetElon Musk's vision of a Hyperloop transport system that carries passengers in pressurized tubes at near-supersonic speeds is on track to hit a milestone.
Musk outlined his futuristic idea in a paper released in 2013, challenging innovators to bring the dream to life.
Hyperloop Technologies, one of the startups that picked up the gauntlet thrown by Musk, is hosting a "sneak preview of the future of transportation technology" during a two-day event billed as involving a demonstration at a test site outside Las Vegas.READ MORE

Las Vegas Journal-ReviewExecutives with XpressWest, the company franchised to build a high-speed rail line between Las Vegas and Southern California, have talked with officials with Hyperloop One, the high-tech, high-speed transport system under development in North Las Vegas.
But don't expect any changes in the rail company's strategy to build a steel-wheels-on-rails system that would link Las Vegas with Victorville, California, with future plans to expand to Palmdale, California, and downtown Los Angeles.READ MORE

Hartford CourantIn the aftermath of a massive fire that crippled Metro-North traffic between Manhattan and Connecticut, public officials and passenger advocates are pressing for better emergency communications by the railroad.
Separately, Sen. Richard Blumenthal is pushing for federal regulations guaranteeing better oversight of what's stored beneath railroad bridges or viaducts.READ MORE